This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 14, 2018 - May 20, 2018
FOR the first time in 60 years, the Barisan Nasional coalition is not ruling the country. Now that Pakatan Harapan has taken over the role, its elected representatives will have the chance to carry out reforms to strengthen the institutions that make up the backbone of our nation. This is so that poor governance does not sap the nation’s coffers and growth potential.
There needs to be a distinct separation of powers between the three branches of government — parliament (makes the laws), judiciary (interprets and applies the laws) and executive (implements the laws) — to strengthen the nation’s foundation for economic growth, the Group of 25 (G25) former high-ranking civil servants and prominent Malay individuals said in a report late last year.
“Poor governance has opened the floodgates for endemic corruption at high levels of government and government-linked business entities, which erodes the efficiency and efficacy of the public sector and businesses, promotes the improper allocation of resources and raises the cost of doing business … Malaysia must restore public confidence in good governance practices so that citizens and investors are confident that laws, regulations, procedures and processes will be implemented with appropriate checks and balances,” the G25 said.
Effective and proper checks and balances will prevent the abuse of power.
According to the group, greater prominence for parliamentary committees will lead to a restoration of powers for members of parliament when approving legislation and diminish attempts by the executive to undermine the role and powers of the parliament.
Among other things, the G25 said, the Public Accounts Committee should be enhanced by appointing a member from the opposition as its chairman, in line with international practices. The group also called for the setting up of parliamentary committees for legislation to study bills and oversee activities of the executive as well as the enacting of a Freedom of Information Act to facilitate greater access to information.
Examples of strong parliamentary oversight can be seen in Indonesia. In 2015, it was reported that Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s anti-graft credentials were questioned and he had to withdraw a previous nominee for national police chief — Budi Gunawan, who was implicated in a bribery scandal. In April that year, members of parliament endorsed three-star police general Badrodin Haiti as police chief after grilling him on a range of topics, including tackling corruption, radicalism and crime.
In the US, President Donald Trump’s Federal Reserve chairman nominee Jerome Powell had to face the Senate Banking Committee for a confirmation hearing.
Also, the US president can be impeached by Congress.
In its manifesto, Pakatan Harapan promises to set up royal commissions of inquiry on 1Malaysia Development Bhd, FELDA, Mara and Tabung Haji to reform the governance of these bodies, within the first 100 days of its administration.
Two other key pledges to be fulfilled within the first 100 days are initiating a comprehensive review of all mega projects that have been awarded to foreign countries and setting up of a special cabinet committee to properly enforce the Malaysia Agreement 1963, which involves restoring the rights promise to the people of Sabah and Sarawak under the agreement, including rights to revenue from their natural resources such as oil and gas.
There is urgency to put in place the necessary checks and balances as soon as possible. To borrow Lord Acton’s words: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”
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